Fossil Finds Must Be Shared

DR. ROBERT Sullivan's views about fossil specimens ("Students Don't
Have a Bone To Pick" letter) are at odds with the practices of
curators in most museums, based on my 30 years' experience in
collections around the world.

He maintains that because some of the fossils in question were
collected by the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science,
they are exclusively the research property of its staff.

To handle this case fairly, New Mexico officials need to understand
some basics about museum ethics. All specimens that have been
described, figured or mentioned in the published literature are
ethically available for examination by all qualified scientists at
any reasonable time. That's how we test someone else's reported
observations. It's a necessary part of the self-correcting progress
of science.

In this case, the specimens in question had been published on
several times by their discoverers. Other museums have specimens of
these animals, too. As a federal and state repository, the New
Mexico Museum has a contractual obligation to facilitate the
research of other qualified workers, not merely those of its
staff.

Sullivan also maintains that the young scientists who have
complained that Spencer Lucas and other museum staff claim-jumped
their work are just whining, because they should have given their
conclusions to Lucas and his colleagues and let them publish them.

In effect, that's exactly what the complaints are: that Lucas and
company were collegially provided manuscripts, theses, and access
to work in progress, and that they then published this work as
their own.

The merits of the case have appeared stronger to some outside
observers than to Sullivan (a long-time research associate and
co-publisher with Lucas and company) admits.

Regardless of the outcome of the complaint, however, there is a
great need for due process so that the museum and its staff are not
tarred unfairly, and also so that the young scientists who charge
that their work was claim-jumped receive a just hearing.

KEVIN PADIAN
Berkeley, Calif.

Editor's note:
Kevin Padian is professor and curator of the Museum of Paleontology
at the University of California, Berkeley, which has provided
unrestricted access to its collections to Drs. Sullivan, Lucas, and
their colleagues.